


Timeline error: Try again?

by FearTheFuckingToaster



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Angst, Blood, Death, Dubious Consent, Extremely Dubious Consent, Gamzee Makara and Karkat Vantas Moirallegiance, Karkat Needs a Hug, M/M, Nepeta kicks ass though, POV Karkat Vantas, Porn With Plot, Quadrant Vacillation, Sad, Sober Gamzee Makara, a lot of people die, sex later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-22 16:49:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6087247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FearTheFuckingToaster/pseuds/FearTheFuckingToaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat gets a chance to restart the timeline, and try again to save his friends. But when he screws up and alters the timeline too early, things take a turn for the worse. He now has to manage his team and keep Gamzee from going on a murderous rampage. With nothing to take his aggression out on, Gamzee turns to his moirail as a target.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolog

Karkat sank to his knees. Not only had he fucked up so entirely once, he did it twice. Karkat had been so sure, when his denizen asked him, that he was prepared to keep everyone alive, that he could again be the leader and take control. But not only had he failed again, but he had failed so much worse than last time. As he sat on his knees, green blood pooling in the material he wondered if this what was always bond to happen. That he was destined to fail, and the harder he fought it, the worse it would be for him in the end. Hands in fists, Karkat gritted his teeth as he tried not to think about how his denizen warned him about this. He had been warned that if he tried to change things, all bets were off. He would no longer be able to know and predict what would happen anymore. Time travel was a tricky thing.


	2. Karkat, NO.

He had followed the normal timeline fairly close. The game had gone almost exactly the same. He had been told there was no way to stop Jack from being formed, and no way for his session to be successful. That had taken a while to sink in. But, eventually he had understood. The only thing he could change was the formation of Lord English. If he played his cards right, everyone would survive! Unfortunately, there was a limit to what “everyone” was. Only the players that were still alive at the point that Karkat traveled back in time would survive. He thought he could handle that. After all, he knew that they were going to die. There would be no stopping it, so he had to keep that in mind. 

But Karkat was never the troll to just sit by and take things. He had been sitting in the main lab, trying to stop himself from going out and stopping Gamzee from going on his murderous rampage, or even going to stop Vriska from turning Tavros into a Tavros-cabob. But he couldn’t. He had to stay right where he was. Last time that everything went down, Karkat had stood in front of Eridan as he blinded Sollux and slaughtered Feferi and Kanaya. He would have to do that again, or chance messing up the timeline. That knowledge didn’t help his flinch as Eridan teleported in. It didn’t help how wobbly his words were, and probably didn’t help the pin pricks of tears in his eyes. 

The fight was quick, just like last time. The yelling drew in Kanaya’s attention, just like last time. Eridan raised his wand and blasted Sollux into the wall, just like last time. But here was the moment of silence. The quiet second that Karkat had cursed himself for years because he hadn’t acted. He hadn’t stopped Eridan before he did something really permeant. But here he was again. And he was trying to force himself NOT to act this time. Red tears collected in his eyes as he heard Feferi scream. Just like she did last time. And then Eridan raised his wand... Karkat wanted to look away. He didn’t want to see this again. He didn’t want to see Eridan’s snarl as he murdered his once-friend. He didn’t want to hear the sound of Feferi’s body hitting the ground again. He didn’t want to hear Kanaya’s angry yell. But he couldn’t look away. 

Everything played out just the way it did the time before. The only difference this time was Karkat. Instead of a shocked, terrified expression, he wore a grief filled face, with tears trying to force their way out. That was the last time he would ever see Feferi. And Sollux would soon leave him. They were on the same track as last time. Karkat’s heart lurched as Eridan turned around. He raised his wand and Karkat tried not to scream. First the matriorb, then Kanaya. First the matriorb, then Kanaya. Karkat’s chest tightened as the matriorb exploded in a flash of holy wand light. Next was Kanaya. Eridan raised his wand. NO!! There was no way he could watch this again. 

Suddenly there was another pause. A pause Karkat didn’t remember happening. Later he would realize he had screamed when Eridan raised his weapon. Unlike last time, he had a chance. Not thinking he ran forward, diving into Kanaya. They both tumbled forward just as Eridan snapped back into his action and sent a fiery bolt of holy magic above their heads. Karkat felt the white hot buzz on his shoulders, but the blast missed him and Kanaya entirely. By the time Kanaya rolled him off of her, Eridan had absconded. All that was left was his purple cape, discarded on the ground. 

“Oh dear…” 

Karkat looked at Kanaya, who was now standing, lipstick in hand. Karkat started to stand, then soon realized he wasn’t as unscratched as he originally thought. He had managed to escape Eridan’s blast, but he had tackled someone holding a chainsaw. Thanks to Kanaya’s quick reflexes, his injuries were minor. But still, bright red leaked from a gash in his shoulder. By instinct he went to cover it up. But there was really no point. Kanaya already knew his blood color. After all, while she was a rainbow drinker, she had to get her meals from some… Wait. This Kanaya wasn’t the one who knew about Karkat’s mutation. She was yet to discover that about him. Fearful eyes met Kanaya’s concerned expression. 

“Karkat…” She said carefully, “You are…” She paused, taking a breath. Karkat gulped, trying to stifle the panic rising in his chest. “You are bleeding, Karkat. I am sorry. I do believe that would be because of me.” 

A breath of relief. Of course she didn’t care. She didn’t last time. Why should things be different now. Karkat’s heart rate increased. Fuck. He had started changing things too early. Oh god. He had really fucked up this time hadn’t he.


	3. Don't forget.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are some things that are important to remember. Karkat will pay for forgetting.

That was the point that Karkat had fucked up the rest of the timeline. Maybe if Aradia had still been alive, he would have had more of a chance. But he was fucked. The next two hours were the hardest of Karkat’s life. Not only did he get to watch all the people he knew would die, die again, people who were never meant to die got slaughtered. 

Eridan went to befriend Jack, and got a stabbed for his peace efforts. 

Vriska got stabbed in the back by Terezi, just like she had before. But this time, mere moments after the spider bitches body hit the ground, Jack showed up, covered in purple blood, to claim Terezi’s life before she could even react. 

Nepeta and Equius were safe from Gamzee this time. Karkat knew better than to try and send Zahhak after the clown again. What Karkat hadn’t anticipated, was the big blue blooded idiot trying to take on Jack and failing. Nepeta had been looking for survivors at the time, and luckily hadn’t seen what happened to her moirail.

Kanaya had helped Karkat lug Sollux’s unconscious body until the idiot finally woke up. Without his optic blast and sight, he was pretty useless though.

It didn’t take long for Jack to hunt the tree down. Kanaya instructed the boys to run while she held off the demon dog. Karkat had no time to argue because there was no way for him to help in this fight. He would just get in the way and he knew it. Holding tight to Sollux’s shirt, he dragged the yellow blood through the halls at high speeds. 

This is where he ran (literally) into Nepeta. The small cat girl ended up falling as the force of his impact knocked them both to the ground. After a brief explanation of their situation, Nepeta agreed to go with Karkat and Sollux but wanted to find Equius before they hid from Jack. Karkat didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth.

It didn’t take long to get to the roof. Karkat did his best to keep his gaze away from Terezi’s body. If they could get to Aradia, maybe he could convince her to change the timeline with her magic time powers. 

Sollux was ready to blast them to the green sun, but Karkat wouldn’t let him. He couldn’t let Sollux die while the timeline was still in flux. At least, that’s what he told him. In reality, he just couldn’t stand to see another friend die. 

As much as Karkat had been hoping for Kanaya to kill the demon, Jack emerged only a few minuets later, jade blood splattered up his side. This caused the three trolls to scatter. 

Sollux didn’t get far before he was knifed down. After all, a blind kid can’t run far. 

Karkat ran directly the way he had came. He had to get to Kanaya. He was sure that if he didn’t corpse-smooch her again, she wouldn’t return as a rainbow drinker. God, this was so fucked up. The only person who he had “saved” is Nepeta, and he didn’t even do that on purpose. And who knew. Maybe she was next on the death list. 

As Karkat ran up on Kanaya’s body, he realized one thing. He had forgotten an important factor. There was one more resident of the meteor. 

He sank to his knees as he gazed at Kanaya’s beheaded body. There was no way to bring her back this time. 

He shouldn’t have forgotten about Gamzee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda short, but I'm just setting up the background still. Expect smut in 3-4 more chapters.


	4. He's not the moirail you knew.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat needs to abscond, but Gamzee is too interested with his shoulder for that to happen.

Jade blood soaked into Karkat’s pants. He didn’t care. There was only three people left on this meteor, and there would be less soon. Gamzee was surely going to kill Nepeta, just as he did last round. That is, if Jack didn’t get to her first. 

“honk.”

Or if Gamzee got to HIM first. Karkat whipped his head around, falling on his ass in a puddle of jade. Gamzee was splattered in almost every color of the rainbow. The clown had been busy. He had been collecting heads. Why was this bumbling idiot so obsessed with heads??? 

“HONK.”

Karkat flinched, but didn’t try to run. Last round of this shit, he had run away from Gamzee, and that only ended with the purple blood playing with Karkat’s fear until he was forced to confront him upfront. He gulped and slowly stood. The only way for him to get out of this was to shooshpap the fuck out of Gamzee again. Then again, Karkat had no way of knowing if Gamzee would actually stop this time. There was no one to help Karkat and punish the clown if he stepped out of line.

Gamzee stepped forward and Karkat had to force himself not to panic. His instincts told him to run from the highblood who surly wanted to rip his guts out. 

“honk.”

Didn’t this asshole have anything better to say?

“HONK.”

Obviously not. 

With each honk, Gamzee took another step. He approached his friend, club in hand. At some point Karkat started backing up. His panic was overriding his logic. Every part of him told him to run. He had to run and escape. He had to get away from this blood thirsty highblood. 

“honk. HONK. honk. HONK. honk. HONK.”

Gamzee continued forward as Karkat scrambled back till he hit a wall. No where to go now. With fear written over his whole expression, he forced his hands into fists to try to stop his trembling. As Gamzee got closer, Karkat shut his eyes tightly. 

It was quiet for a long time. Karkat could feel Gamzee’s breath, each time the highblood exhaled, Karkat could feel the strands of hair on his face shift.

“best friend.” 

Karkat forced himself to open his eyes when Gamzee spoke. It was the first thing he heard him say this whole time besides honk. This was a good sign! Karkat opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off with Gamzee finishing his sentence. 

“you ain’t been checking your MOTHER FUCKING MESSAGES”

Karkat jumped when the highblood screamed. He had gotten used to Gamzee yelling on the meteor. It was a daily occurrence. The clown hadn’t meant any real harm by it. The most he had ever done was once throw Karkat into a nearby wall when he tried to shooshpap him too early. But this Gamzee was different. There was venom and real rage behind his words. This wasn’t a game anymore, and Karkat life depended on how violent the highblood was feeling. 

“I’m… Sorry Gamzee. Eridan, he-”

“shut up.”

Karkat immediately obliged. Red tears drying on his cheeks, he could do little about his situation. His only hope was to calm Gamzee down. With a gulp, he lifted a trembling hand to touch Gamzee’s check. But before the “shoosh” even exited his mouth, Gamzee’s hand shot up and grabbed Karkat’s wrist with freakish strength. Karkat cried out, his wrist feeling like it was going to break. 

“I SAID SHUT UP MOTHERFUCKER.”

Karkat fell quiet. A small whimper played in his throat as he tried to keep silent. Gamzee had never been so intimidating before. Last round of this bullshit, Gamzee had never managed to get him alone. This time, he was completely at the mercy of the juggalo. There was no cop out. He couldn’t go running to Terezi or Kanaya. There was no threat of clown hunting for Gamzee. He was free to do whatever he wanted, and Karkat was fairly sure he wanted to see Karkat’s guts on the floor.

Gamzee reached up, and Karkat prepared for his neck to be snapped. Instead, his head was roughly shoved to the side as his arm was thrown against the wall and pinned. There was no point in struggling, but he still flinched whenever Gamzee made sudden movements. The highblood seemed particularly interested in Karkat’s shoulder… Oh no. 

“what’s this bro? you up and got colors a brother ain’t ever even motherfucking got his gazers on before.” 

Karkat’s eyes were clamped shut again. His body was shaking as he tried not to give Gamzee another reason to gut him here and now. God he’d been so STUPID. He was so used to everyone on the meteor knowing about his blood color. He was so used to Gamzee going on about its “pretty bright shine” and how he thought the color was a “real motherfucking miracle.” This Gamzee wouldn’t see it as a miracle. He would see it as a reason to end Karkat’s life in the most gruesome way possible. 

The clown released his arm. Opening his eyes, Karkat watched Gamzee’s slack expression as he reached up to touch the wound on his captives shoulder. But then suddenly, a high pitched wail filled the air and Karkat’s blood turned to ice. 

“Oh fuck. Nepeta!”


	5. Nepeta is a smol badass

Karkat raced down the hallway. Honks came from around the corner. Gamzee had released Karkat for barley a second, but the small troll had used this opportunity to bolt towards Nepeta. If she died, he would be left alone on the meteor with Gamzee. He could only imagine what the clown would do to him if he realized this. This inspiration caused him to run faster.

As he hit a corner, he reached Nepeta just in time to see her rip her claws out of Jack’s throat. Karkat stopped short. 

What. 

The 5’0 cat girl turned to him, tears streaming down her face. Karkat immediately ran up to her. 

“Nepeta! I heard you scream, what-”

He was cut off as she flew into his chest, almost knocking him over. She was crying, holding on to the fabric of his sweater and shaking. Without speaking, she looked over to where Equius’s body lay. Of course, it was headless. But Nepeta didn’t need to know it was Gamzee, not Jack, that stole her moirail’s head. 

“AC says that…” She paused a moment, trying to recollect herself. “I found Equius.” 

She started crying again, and Karkat did the best he could to comfort her. He knew she had a weird crush on him, but now was not the time to be awkward about that. He needed to be there for her, crush or not. Patting her back, he let her calm down a bit before speaking.

“So, what happened with Jack?”

Nepeta let go of him, standing up to her full height. Karkat was barely an inch taller than her, but her tried not to notice. 

“I found Equius and…” she sniffed, and wiped her nose. “It looked like he didn’t beat Jack after all.

He told me to stay in the room, that it would be safer that way. I should have gone with him! And then he wouldn’t be…” Tears started down her cheeks again.

Karkat grimaced. Even if he DID save Nepeta, it was incredibly cruel of paradox space to leave her alive, but not Equius. Even if the guy was gross, sweaty, egotistical, and a total asshole, he still made Nepeta happy. (For some reason.) 

“Are… Are we the only ones left?” Nepeta asked.

Karkat shook his head. “Gamzee. And I think… Aradia and Sollux?”

Nepeta turned her head with a puzzled expression. 

“Huh?”

“Look, it doesn’t fucking matter. Lets just get to the fucking roof so we’re ready when the humans get here ok?”

“AC wonders how you know the humans will get here.”

“I just fucking do ok? Don’t worry your bulge about it lets just go.”

He was trying to act normal, to distract Nepeta from the fact that literally all of her friends just died. But it just felt so forced. He was trying to keep himself from breaking down, because now was the worst time for that. Gamzee had disappeared, but who knew when he would show up again. Karkat guided Nepeta up the stairs, back to the roof to await the arrival of the humans and Aradia and Sollux.

Last time, Sollux had brought the meteor to the sun while standing on it. But with Aradia’s help, Karkat was sure they could get the meteor to the sun again. But it would probably take a lot longer this ti-

“HONK."

Karkat whipped his head around to see none other than Gamzee standing in the doorway. Nepeta looked too. Oh gog. She would have no idea what Gamzee is capable of. He had no gashes on his face that would later become scars. Technically, Gamzee was still innocent. He hadn’t done anything but threaten Karkat and steal a few heads. 

“Gamzee?"

He stared at Karkat before disappearing into the hallway. Oh well. At least he was keeping a respectful distance. Maybe he was going to go collect all the bodies again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so smut probably in next chapter, or the one after that. So much plot happened I wasn't expecting >_>


	6. Old friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. This is the longest chapter yet. I keep trying to get the smut in, BUT PLOT WHY

Karkat sighed as he walked down the hallway alone. The humans, Aradia, and Sollux had shown up after a long time. It had been a few hours of awkward conversation and trying to comfort Nepeta (She ended up comforting him instead but he didn’t want to tall about that.). After meeting everyone (again) Karkat tried to give a fuck about hanging out with Dave but couldn’t. He just wanted go sleep. Today had been the worst day of his life, and there was nothing he could do about it. Hell. He couldn’t even tell people about it. They’d blame him for not telling them earlier. 

Karkat wondered if Aradia suspected him. She was a time player after all. Her and Sollux agreed to stay on the meteor with the humans, him, Nepeta and Gamzee. They would stay until there was a game plan. Meeting up with Jade and John would be harder now because the meteor wasn’t in a place to move. 

Aradia and Rose hadn’t shut up about how to maneuver through void, and Karkat had just stopped paying attention. He excused himself the table early. Maybe if he just slept on it, he’d feel better. 

Suddenly he froze. Karkat wasn’t alone. 

He felt a familiar presence coming from the dark hallway to his left. Gamzee was easy to find when distressed, if you knew what to look for. He gave off a slight subconscious field of chucklevoodoos. And fuck if Karkat didn’t know what those felt like. Gamzee couldn’t always control is creepy ass powers, and Karkat had had them used on him before. 

Sighing, he walked to the dark hallway. As scared as he was of Gamzee, he was still his moirail. It was Karkat’s job to make sure he was ok. But Karkat wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t about to walk down a dark hallway with a murderous clown inside.

“Gamzee?” He called out.

There was only silence. Karkat sighed. If Gamzee wasn’t going to respond there was nothing he could do. Then suddenly, directly next his ear he heard a very low “honk.”

Karkat jumped, falling backwards into the doorframe. 

“FUCK!”

Suddenly, Gamzee right in front of him. The purple blooded troll was easily a foot taller than Karkat, and he had to angle his head up just to see Gamzee’s face.

“G-Gamzee. You-”

Gamzee’s cold expression stopped him. This wasn’t the face of his moirail. This was the face of someone who was mildly interested in this conversation, but more interested in seeing Karkat bleed. 

“HONK.”

Karkat jumped, almost falling backwards. The only thing that stopped him from falling right out of the dark hallway was a hand holding his arm. He realized in a panic, that that hand belonged to Gamzee, and the juggalo was the only thing stopping him from falling backwards. 

“Gamz- AHHH!”

Gamzee used his hold on his arm to jerk him forward, throwing his body forward and to the floor. Karkat stumbled and crashed into the hard lab floor. Groaning, he sat up just as Gamzee closed the hallway door, engulfing them both in complete darkness. Karkat quickly moved as he tried to find his way to the wall. Trolls had much better night vision than humans, but Gamzee would be much more able to see in the dark than Karkat would. This could be an effect of being a highblood, or Karkat could just have shit night vision because of his mutation. Who fucking knew? All that mattered was the fact Karkat was near blind in a dark hallway with a very pissed off Gamzee. 

“honk.”

He only screamed a little bit. It came from right behind Karkat. With a gulp, he turned around.

“Gamzee?”

There was no response. Karkat waited a few moments before he told himself to stop acting like a wiggler, and put his fucking big boy panties on. 

He reached his hand out slowly, not knowing what his hand would find. When he brushed something wet, he immediately jerked back his hand. However, before it was full retracted, the blood drenched clown had a tight grip on his wrist. Karkat tried to wrench away, but found himself pressed against a hard surface. 

“where the motherfuck you think YOURE UP AND MOTHERFUCKING GOING?”

Karkat flinched at the screaming. Of course Gamzee was mad at him. He had ran away from him once, and was trying to do it again. Damn it. This was him /moirail/. He had to be more considerate.

“Listen up fuck face, I have had the worst night of my life. So if I’m not paying as much fucking attention to you as I usually FUCKING DON’T, sorry.”

That was a very considerate thing for Karkat to say given the circumstances. In fact, apologizing was the nicest thing ever he could of done. Gamzee should fucking appreciate it.

“dont talk back to me” 

Gamzee said it so quietly, Karkat almost didn’t hear him. But the pure violence beneath the words and tone was enough to shut Karkat up. He didn’t get it. Last time, Gamzee had been so receptive to their moirailegance. What the fuck was so different this time??


End file.
